Serenity, Sushi and More

I Japanese Café on Collingwood St is the latest addition to Hamilton’s Japanese restaurants. It has long narrow windows along the front wall reminiscent of arrow-slits in medieval castles, which creates a lovely muted lighting effect on the inside.

The lunch menu ranges in price from $6.50 for udon noodles to $13.50 for a lunch box, which changes daily and includes miso soup. We ordered the mixed roll sushi (eight pieces of sushi, miso soup and salad) for $8.50 and teriyaki donburi served on rice, also with miso soup for $7.50.

The miso came very promptly, and was very tasty, obviously freshly made. The salad for me came soon after we finished - a simple salad of red and white cabbage with onion and dressing. The mains were served as the salad plate was cleared. These were generous portions presented in styley bowls. My dish included five different types of sushi; smoked salmon, chicken, tempura, avocado and mixed vegetables, and was served with pickled ginger and soy sauce. Maverick had a large bowl of delicious chicken breast on top of salad and rice.

The value here was excellent, both of us had trouble finishing our meals and the food was tasty and freshly prepared. The service was great for lunchtime, allowing us to eat at leisure as well as get back to work on time; our only minor grumble was that water was not served on the table. For a quiet and relaxing dining experience away from the bustle of crowded cafés and harried eating, I Japanese café is well worth a try.

They are also open for dinner, fully licensed with BYOW ($3 corkage fee/bottle) and provide takeaways as well.